The
New Jersey Law Against Discrimination
(LAD) prohibits employers from discriminating
in any job-related action, including recruitment,
interviewing, hiring, promotions, discharge, compensation
and the terms, conditions and privileges of employment
on the basis of any of the law's specified protected
categories. These protected categories are: race,
creed, color, national origin, nationality, ancestry,
age, sex (including pregnancy and sexual harassment),
marital status, domestic partnership or civil
union status, affectional or sexual orientation,
gender identity or expression, atypical hereditary
cellular or blood trait, genetic information liability
for military service, or mental or physical disability,
including AIDS and HIV related illnesses. The
LAD prohibits intentional discrimination based
on any of these characteristics. Intentional discrimination
may take the form of differential treatment or
statements and conduct that reflect discriminatory
animus or bias.

Moreover,
an employment policy or practice that is neutral
in its terms may be deemed unlawful if the policy
or practice has an adverse impact on protected
groups. However, the disparate impact may be
lawful if the employment policy or practice
meets an important, legitimate business need
that cannot be served with a non-discriminatory
measure. For example, screening out applicants
for employment based on certain physical traits,
such as setting a minimum height requirement,
may exclude disproportionate numbers of women
and people of certain national origins or ancestries.
If the height requirement has a disparate impact
on a protected group and is not related to an
applicant's ability to perform important job
duties, it may be deemed unlawful. To establish
the lawfulness of a policy or practice that
has a demonstrated disparate impact, an employer
would have to establish that the policy is job
related and consistent with business necessity,
and that effective alternative practices are
not available.

A
physical requirement is more likely to be regarded
as unlawful if there is an alternative measure
of job related abilities, such as strength or
stamina tests, that would provide a more accurate
evaluation of a candidate's ability to perform
without screening out qualified members of groups
that historically have been excluded from particular
jobs.

The
LAD also prohibits harassment based on protected
characteristics such as race, sex or nationality.
Under the LAD, sexual harassment includes unwelcome
sexual advances, requests for sexual relations
or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual
nature. There are generally two types of sexual
harassment. Quid pro quo harassment occurs when
an employer, or an employer's agent, implicitly
or explicitly attempts to make submission to
sexual demands a condition of employment. Thus,
an employee may perceive that he or she must
tolerate sexual advances or engage in a sexual
relationship in order to continue employment,
to achieve advancement, or to avoid adverse
employment consequences such as poor evaluations
or demotions. Similarly, it is unlawful for
an employer or an employer's agent to condition
favorable treatment such as promotions, salary
increases, or preferred assignments, on an employee's
acceptance of sexual advances or relations.

Hostile
work environment sexual harassment occurs when
an employee is subjected to sexual, abusive, or
offensive conduct because of his or her gender.
Such conduct creates an unlawful work environment
when it is severe or pervasive enough to make
a reasonable person of the employee's gender believe
that the conditions of employment have been altered
and the working environment has become hostile
or abusive. The conduct does not have to be sexual
in nature and does not have to involve physical
contact. For example, if a woman is subjected
to non-sexual taunts or adverse treatment because
of her gender, her work environment may be deemed
unlawfully hostile and abusive. This analytical
framework may also be applied to hostile work
environments created because of an employee's
race, nationality, creed, disability, or other
characteristics enumerated by the LAD. For example,
racial slurs or offensive comments or jokes about
a person's dress, culture, accent or ethnic background
may be severe or pervasive enough to create a
hostile or abusive environment that violates the
LAD.

Finally,
the LAD prohibits employers from denying employment
opportunities to people with disabilities unless
the employer reasonably determines that the nature
and extent of a person's disability reasonably
precludes his or her safe performance of a particular
job. In order for the decision to be reasonable,
the employer must determine that the employee's
disability precludes the performance of essential
duties, not merely hinders the execution of some
tasks. Furthermore, before deciding that a person's
disability precludes his or her safe performance
of a particular job, an employer must first consider
the possibility of making reasonable accommodations,
that is, adjustments to the work assignment or
workplace, that may enable the person to perform
the essential functions of his or her position.

Federal
and state courts have reasoned that an employer's
obligation to provide reasonable accommodation
may sometimes require an employer to request information
about an employee's abilities and need for accommodation.
Accordingly, if an employer has reason to believe
that an employee has a disability, the mere fact
that the employee does not request an accommodation
may not relieve the employer from the responsibility
of providing reasonable accommodations that will
enable the employee to perform the essential functions
of his or her job.

An
accommodation may be required even if it causes
the employer some inconvenience or cost. An employer
must make reasonable accommodations to the limitations
of an employee or applicant with a disability
unless the accommodation imposes an undue hardship
on the operation of its business.

On
the other hand, an employer is generally free
to distinguish between applicants and employees
on the basis of their qualifications, competence
and job performance, provided reasonable accommodations
are made to qualified people with disabilities.